Farming leaders have urged caution over Prime Minister Tony Blair's claim that the worst of the foot and mouth crisis is over.

Mr Blair claimed yesterday that the Government was winning the battle against the disease with the number of new cases falling.

But NFU president Ben Gill warned against complacency as there were still serious front-line issues which needed tackling.

After emerging from the meeting at Number 10 with other UK farm leaders,NFU President Ben Gill said: "Today's update with Mr Blair demonstrates the significant strides that have been made since those dreadful early days when we were seeing more than 40 cases a day.

"We still need to remain vigilant and we must not let our guard down temporarily."

North Yorkshire farmers leaders were equally cautious.

Geoff Todd, chairman of Pickering NFU said though the number of cases was dropping there was still a danger foot and mouth disease could spread.

"We have been very fortunate in North Yorkshire...but it only takes one case to change that. One case is one case too many," he said.

"It is pleasing to see that the number of confirmed cases does seem to be dropping on a day-to-day basis.

"But what the Government's figures don't show is that the disease has affected every farmer in the country because of the movement restrictions.

"They also don't take into account those farmers who have lost their stock because their farm neighbours one where foot and mouth has been found."

Jonathan Fairburn, a former NFU organiser, who farms near Helmsley, said Government figures hid the problem.

"The Government is being very vague when it comes to announcing its figures so half the time we don't know what they mean," he said.

"I think they are slowly getting on top of it but whether they are being as successful as they are making out I'm not sure. It's clear they want to get it out of the way as much as possible before the General Election."

Updated: 08:31 Friday, May 04, 2001